Reality Check: The Price of Blackberries

Blackberry season has started here in SE Pennsylvania, so James, Eleanor and I eagerly went berry-picking today.  I found one u-pick location, a beautiful organic farm about 14 miles away.    Blackberries don’t grow wild here!

Not all of you know that we were covered up in blackberries at home in Oregon.  We were constantly cutting, spraying, and cursing blackberries, until August when we were out every morning and evening letting the ripest ones fall into our hands and mouths.  I don’t know how many pounds of berries we’d pick each year.   Half the berries probably didn’t make it into the house!  The only time we bought any was the year a rainstorm destroyed all the fruit.  Of course the store-bought berries didn’t taste properly ripe to us.
Well.  We ran into the farm store and got our baskets.  $4 a pound, the clerk said.  Hm, that sounds kind of expensive, but what do I know, I’ve always gotten my berries free.

Picking was much easier than at home; no thorns, and the berries were grown in neat rows, not overgrown thickets.  Half an hour later we returned to the store with our little baskets full.   Not nearly enough berries but it was so hot, and we had a homeschool park day to go to.  I was shocked when the berries weighed in at 5 3/4 pounds.  And even though I can do simple math, I was even more shocked when told that I had to fork over $21 and change for those berries.

I don’t begrudge farmers their pay for all their hard work.  But man, it was painful paying that kind of money!

We’ll sort though the baskets and save the ripest berries to eat fresh.  Tonight I’ll make a cobbler and some syrup for Sunday breakfast.  We’ll savor these precious berries…

And you Oregonians, with your wild vines – enjoy them while you’ve got them!